Showing results by narrator "Laural Merlington" in All Categories

A harrowing stand-alone novel from Seatbelt Suspense author Brandilyn Collins. Seven years after her the disappearance of her best friend, Linda Jackson, skip tracer Joanne Weeks must locate a witness who can put the man who Joanne knows to be Linda's killer behind bars - before he silences Joanne for good.

New to a small town, Jackie and Paula envision a quiet life for their kids: a young adopted son and two teenage foster children, including the troubled Star. However, they quickly butt heads with their neighbor, Clementine, who disapproves of their lifestyle and is incensed when Star befriends her spirited horse, Comet. Haunted by past tragedy and unable to properly care for Comet, Clem nevertheless resents the bond Star soon shares with the horse.

His quest might be the salvation she needs… Cowboy-turned-banker Sam Castlerock arrives in Bear Creek, Wyoming, in a last-chance bid to prove himself to his father. He has one job to do: make the local bank profitable. The last thing he needs is a distraction—but she's the first thing he runs into. Emily Sands has never forgotten the cowboy she fancied as a teenager. And now he's back in town. But she's not the carefree youngster she once was. She's a woman now—with a woman's worries. Top on the list: keeping the family store afloat. Next: caring for her younger sister who needs extra help.

She’s pregnant, widowed, and snowed in… with the a quiet cowboy who never seems to give up. Middle son Davy White planned to winter in his pa's secluded cabin alone. Instead, he arrives in the midst of a blizzard to find the cabin occupied by a young widow. One who is expecting a baby any day. Widowed, pregnant, and alone, Rose Evans found the cabin an isolated prison. With winter snows on the way and no animal to ride, the city girl was too frightened to leave. Now she's trapped with a cowboy, one who threatens her self-made promise never to trust a man again.

Alone and on the run, Fran must protect her younger sister at all cost—but she never expected the price would be marriage to a stranger. Her new husband may be a respected rancher in the community, but Fran can't trust him with her secrets.

Discover the untold story behind one of Kathleen Norris's deeply personal relationships in Rebecca Sue. Best known for her insightful and poignant reflections on faith and life, Norris steps into uncharted territory by sharing an intimate memoir exploring the life of her younger sister Becky. Born with perinatal hypoxia, Becky's life was shaped by physical and mental disabilities, yet her spirit and resilience illuminate the hidden power of faith, family, and love.

Police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff's caseload is usually filled with cops—which is why she's hesitant to help an adopted teenager locate her birth parents. But the teen's godmother is Dot's friend Fran and a police widow to boot. How could Dot possibly say no? Once Dot starts digging into the case, though, she's drawn into a murky world of illegal adoptions and the choices a young pregnant woman might make as a last resort. Soon there's only one thing Dot knows for sure: the painful truth of what happened all those years ago might heal one family—but it's certain to destroy another.

Analyzing the meanings of masculinity in contemporary culture, this book examines specific cultural male icons like Mohammad Ali, Harvey Keitel, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Dan Quayle, and Newt Gingrich and explodes the male stereotypes such as the cowboy, the father, the homosexual, and the Black terror. Written by cultural studies scholars from departments of film, media studies, English, women's studies, and sociology, the discussions touch on almost every conceivable issue concerning the complex meanings of masculinity and contemporary society.

For many Americans, the birth certificate is a mundane piece of paper, unearthed from deep storage when applying for a driver's license, verifying information for employers, or claiming state and federal benefits. Yet as Donald Trump and his fellow "birthers" reminded us when they claimed that Barack Obama wasn't an American citizen, it plays a central role in determining identity and citizenship. The Birth Certificate: An American History traces the document's two-hundred-year history to explain when, how, and why birth certificates came to matter so much in the United States.

With spring’s arrival in Goosebush, Lilly and the Beautification Committee turn their eyes to new projects. A cleanup of the historic Goosebush Cemetery may be in order after Lilly and Delia find the plots there sorely neglected and inexplicably rearranged. Lilly soon discovers that Whitney Dunne-Bradford snapped up custodianship of the graveyard once she inherited Bradford Funeral Homes. But before Lilly can get to the bottom of the tombstone tampering, she stumbles upon Whitney’s body at the Jayne family mausoleum.

Girl Archaeologist recounts Alice Kehoe's life, begun in an era very different from the twenty-first century in which she retired as an honored elder archaeologist. She persisted against patriarchy in her childhood, at Harvard University, and as she did fieldwork with her husband in the northern plains. Working in archaeology and in the histories of American First Nations, Kehoe published groundbreaking books and articles, and fostered a sisterhood of feminists—strong, bright women archaeologists, anthropologists, and ethnohistorians who have been essential to the field.

Few topics have as many myths, stereotypes, and misperceptions surrounding them as that of poverty in America. The poor have been badly misunderstood since the beginnings of the country, with the rhetoric only ratcheting up in recent times. Our current era of fake news, alternative facts, and media partisanship has led to a breeding ground for all types of myths and misinformation to gain traction and legitimacy. Poorly Understood is the first book to systematically address and confront many of the most widespread myths pertaining to poverty.

The impact of immigrants over the past half century has become so much a part of everyday life in the United States that we sometimes fail to see it. This deeply researched book by one of America's leading immigration scholars tells the story of how immigrants are fundamentally changing this country.

George Koval was born in Iowa. In 1932, his parents, Russian Jews who had emigrated because of anti-Semitism, decided to return home to live out their socialist ideals. George, who was as committed to socialism as they were, went with them.

Lilly Jayne typically spends the harvest season baking festive pies and crafting colorful wreaths to enter in the library’s annual fundraising contest. But this year, autumn opens on a somber note when beloved local theater owner Leon Tompkin dies unexpectedly. His memorial sets the scene for a mini reunion of The Goosebush Players’ best and brightest alumni, including Hollywood star Jeremy Nolan...until someone plucks Jeremy from the spotlight.

Many scholars have come to think of the European Christian mission to the Americas as an inevitable success. But in its early period it was very much on the brink of failure. In 1576, Indigenous Mexican communities suffered a catastrophic epidemic that took almost two million lives and simultaneously left the colonial church in ruins. In the crisis and its immediate aftermath, Spanish missionaries and surviving pueblos de indios held radically different visions for the future of Christianity in the Americas.

The Fernalds are an elderly couple, alone now that their children are grown and, mostly, married. But one of their sons realizes how lonely they must be and decides to bring his family together for the holidays to surprise his parents. First published in 1908, this short novel was followed by a sequel, On Christmas Day in the Evening, in 1910.

Lilly Jayne typically spends the harvest season baking festive pies and crafting colorful wreaths to enter in the library’s annual fundraising contest. But this year, autumn opens on a somber note when beloved local theater owner Leon Tompkin dies unexpectedly. His memorial sets the scene for a mini reunion of The Goosebush Players’ best and brightest alumni, including Hollywood star Jeremy Nolan... until someone plucks Jeremy from the spotlight - permanently.

The Fernalds, who now always share the holidays together, decide to try to reunite their community, as well, by reopening the village church after schisms have shut its doors. First published in 1910, this short tale continues the story of the Fernald family that began with the 1908 short novel On Christmas Day in the Morning.

An English emigre who became America's first professional architect, Benjamin Henry Latrobe put his stamp on the built landscape of the new republic. Latrobe contributed to such iconic structures as the south wing of the US Capitol building, the White House, and the Navy Yard. He created some of the early republic's greatest neoclassical interiors, including the Statuary Hall.